POTTER OUTDOORS: Unofficially, little boy's catch is a state record

Neither did the parents of 4-year-old Dillon Bryan and herein begins an incredible fish tale.

Dillon is a lucky kid — he loves to fish and has been since he was barely able to stand. Amazingly, he catches fish almost year-round and relatively unassisted. He's a "catch and release" kind of guy, so after a few quick smartphone pics, he returns his catches alive and well.

But being conscientious probably cost the kid his place in the Indiana Record Fish Program and the glory that comes with a once-in-a-lifetime kind of fish.

Dillon's saga began Tuesday, April 15, when he and his father, Mark Bryan, got a can of earthworms and went in quest of bluegill.

Dillon raced to his favorite spot and swung his cane pole and bobber rig into the water. He didn't have to wait long before his bobber plummeted out of sight. Dillon tried to hoist his quarry but found it too heavy.

"Got a catfish on," he grunted and proceeded to hold the pole up and walk backward levering the fish up the bank. His dad was several yards away and headed to do the unhooking.

Upon reaching Dillon's catch Mark Bryan gasped in amazement. There, flopping in the grass, was a behemoth bluegill, so he ran back and got a landing net to carry the fish in. Hefting the spectacular catch, he told Dillon he probably had a new state record.

The fish was placed in a water-filled cooler where it rested between smartphone video clips featuring Dillon and the fish. Next, it was unofficially weighed at slightly more than 4 pounds. If verified, it would top the old record by almost a pound.

Someone said to keep it alive until official sources could confirm its status. Mark Bryan placed it on a clip-type fish stringer and tethered it to the bank.

Can you guess what happened next? When the Bryans returned to take the fish to Dan Carnahan, Indiana Fisheries biologist at Sugar Ridge Fish & Wildlife Area, the possible record fish was gone and the clip was open.

Did a big turtle steal the fish? Many anglers have experienced the same angst, but this time a turtle may not be guilty. After the re-closed stringer clip was tugged on by Dillon's grandfather, it easily popped open. Perhaps the buster bluegill freed itself without reptilian assistance and still swims alive and well.

A potentially record fish vanished, but thanks to early measurements taken while it was resting in the cooler Dillon may yet get his "wall-hanger". Danny Knight of Art Works Taxidermy has been contacted to make a replica of Dillon's whopper 'gill.

No one knows what the lost fish weighed, but this is Dillon's story, so he can say he caught the state record — albeit unofficially.